" Had any apparent advantage been derived from burning the house on Philips' manor, last Monday, there vrould have been some reason to justify the measure ; but when no benefit whatever can be proposed, by burning those buildings and stripping the women and children of necessary apparel, to cover them from the severity of a cold night, and captivating and leading in triumph to your lines, in the most ignominious manner, the heads of those families, I know not what justifiable cause to assign for those acts of cruelty ; nor can I conceive a necessity for your further order to destroy Tarrytown.

" You cannot be insensible it is every day in my power to destroy the houses and buildings of Col. Philips, and those belonging to the family of De Lancey, each as near your lines as those buildings were to my guards; and notwithstanding your utmost diligence, you cannot prevent the destruction of every house this side of King's Bridge. It is not fear, it is not want of opportunity that has preserved those buildings ; but a sense of the injustice and savageness of such a line of conduct has saved them ; and nothing but necessity will induce me to copy examples of this sort, so often set by your troops.

" It is not my inclination, sir, to war in this manner, against the inhabitants within your lines, who suppose themselves within your king's protection. But necessity will oblige me to retaliate in kind upon your friends, to procure the exercise of that justice which humanity used to dictate, unless your explicit disavowal of your two captains, Emmerick and Barns, shall convince me these houses were burned without your knowledge and against your order. " I am, sir, your humble servant,